I'm not sure it will be Thursday at 8.30. Lygo seems quite keen for Corrie to be there as a building block to launch other shows off the back of. Whilst that could be the case on Thursdays, I think it's more likely to either be Tuesdays or Sundays. I wouldn't read too much into the 5 days comment, he clearly doesn't want to reveal where it's going so it could just be to throw people off the scent.

I really liked Lygo's interview. I think there's lots to be optimistic about. He clearly wants to try lots of new things, particularly in entertainment and factual (and factual entertainment!) and I'd expect to see the schedules looking a bit fresher. I'd imagine he'll want to put a bit more effort into Tuesdays and spruce up midweek a bit.

He seemed very keen on The Durrells. I wonder exactly how many series they've committed to. Wonder if that'll lead to further attempts at Sunday 8pm family drama? Interesting to hear him talking about what makes a hit drama as well. Home Fires was clearly a borderline decision, but Sunday night period drama is expensive and they've clearly got other options. Polly Hill has finally started so it'll be interesting to see the sort of stuff she goes for.

They're also in the market for more Saturday night shows to sit around the juggernauts. Go For It is obviously an attempt at that and they've got others lined up. I'm more interested to see what they go for in those Saturday 9/9.30pm slots though, which he says they "haven't got right yet".

Dawn French is a good choice for Little Big Shots. Sounds like that'll be getting a midweek (probably Wednesday) slot. The Harry Hill thing sounds utterly bonkers, but why not try I suppose? It'd be weird in the Wednesday slot though, they might be better playing it on Saturdays at teatime.

Sounds like there will be lots more crime documentaries. They've ordered a series called "An Hour to Catch a Killer" to be fronted by Trevor McDonald which sounds pretty good. Also I like that he mentioned doing a season of documentaries. One of the problems that has plagued ITV factual is the string of non-descript one offs that just haven't performed.

It's very early days, but already ITV is a bit more interesting than it has been since about 2013.

I think ITV should go down the route of having a 'crime season', with Killer Women, The Investigator and the Trevor McDonald documentaries.

Not sure The X Factor would rate higher against the Olympics...

Yes I like the idea of ITV doing like a season of programming; like the BBC is doing a comedy season.

Yes, the idea of launching it last week on Saturday only would normally be a good once, but the Olympics put paid to it. Although the Olympics were quite quiet last Saturday early evening weren't they? Might be wrong but I think it might have done alright, although it would have been too unpredictable and probably wasn't worth the risk.

BBC1
EastEnders: 4.75m (27.7%)
BBC News (10pm): 3.09m (18.5%)
The One Show: 2.61m (17.6%)

BBC2
The Great British Bake Off: an Extra Slice: 2.24m (12.4%)
Gardeners' World: 2.17m (12.0%)
Mastermind: 1.62m (9.5%)

BBC4
BBC Proms 2016 (8.30pm): 0.35m (2.0%)
BBC Proms 2016 (7.30pm): 0.30m (1.8%)
Foals at Reading Festival: 0.10m (1.0%)

Channel 4 (exc. +1)
8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown: 1.26m (7.0%)
Friday Night Dinner: 0.95m (5.8%)
George Clarke's Amazing Builds by the Sea: 0.79m (4.5%)

Channel 5 (exc. +1)
Celebrity Big Brother: Live Final: 1.69m (10.0%)
Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side: 0.71m (8.5%)
Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords (Repeat): 0.54m (3.1%)

Thanks Ray!

So 1.8m incl +1 for the final, slightly up on last summer. Not bad.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to it in January after some of the press it's had over the last few days. I've no doubt it'll hang on to its 1-2m it currently has but it can usually add on another million in the winter, but with the scripting allegations I'm not so sure this time.

But totally underserving. For the fact Ch5 have covered up Bears antics and made sure he wins, they didn't deserve any more than a series low. Since it ended on a series low.

It's been a bad series, I didn't like the winner, but it was the only foreseeable outcome after he dominated 99% of the show. But yes, judging by the fact it hasn;t got a good reception, the ratings have been good throughout.

I hope January's is much better. But i'm glad to be getting a 4 and a half month break from it.

EastEnders looking very low there and it wasn't even an Emmerdale clash episode as we've been having this week on both Tuesday and Thursday.

How do you know the next series of CBB they get in more reality rubbish and fix that as well?

I don't know, when did I say, i did?

Because you said I hope January is much better. I'm so glad I don't waste my money voting.

Thanks Ray.

Superb for Gardeners World. EE looks a bit weak there.

Yeah i thought that, then it looks like audiences where down generally last night.
Are there any numbers for the other soaps so we can compare ?

Maybe EastEnders' rating is a shot across the bows of ITV and The X Factor? Younger skewing show hit at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend...

Hope it is. Sometimes they have good 'reality' ones. Eg. Tiffany.

Perhaps. Could we see Victoria outrate TXF? I'm going to drop my TXF prediction to 6.3m inc+1.

Pumped up for Casualty's anniversary film tonight! I watched full time in the late 90s/early 00s but then gave up with it, but tune in for spectacles here and there. I hope it lives up to the hype and is a great show. Lots of good press for it.

What are everyone's predictions for this evening? I'll go

X Factor 6.8m (inc. +1)
Casualty 5.0m

But it's a hard one to call, as both could be lower. I imagine both will timeshift well especially if the 30th ep is as great as it's meant to be, and the XF premiere is as much of a 'return to form' as some have said.

Either way though I think it'll be hard for XF not to be down on last year given the tougher competition and weather, which will undoubtedly hit the press and be slammed on here as the worst launch ever/in 10 years, which might be hard to shake off. But there's always tomorrow night, and if the launch episode is top notch, it could recover. If the launch is not decent in every way, it'll be another long 4 months for Simon Cowell!

Tough to call.

That was mainly because Tom Daley didn't make the diving finals, if he had then it would have been a different story

I don't think Casualty will be that high. Around 4.5m at most perhaps. It's shed quite a lot of viewers in recent times with long stretches of "nothingness" and bland episode after bland episode. The BBC would never do it, but it would do Casualty the world of good if it reverted back to its premise of being an autumn or autumn / winter drama series rather than an all year round soap.

Fantastic post, good on you for at least trying to talk about positives...!

I really think he'd be a fool not to put the CS at 7.30pm on Sunday. There should be an effort to bring back procedural drama at 8pm midweek (a new Waterloo Road/Bill type show) with initial pilot runs of say 16. Lygo seems keen to really use top talent only so perhaps could try and bag Russell T Davies or someone could architect a new pre-watershed drama series that could run and run even if he eventually steps down.

There's a real opportunity now to restore the old Corrie/Heartbeat/Big Drama block which worked so well on Sunday nights. The Durrells can be the new Heartbeat (with other commissions for that slot round the year) and all lead-in nicely to a strong big-budget 9pm drama. ITV should never have let Sundays go, and they should claw it back. This would also strengthen Saturdays and stop the need to try and spread the LE output over two nights. It's abundantly clear viewers of ITV do not want light entertainment on Sunday night, they want drama to get lost in before the new work week begins.

Dawn French/Harry Hill are good signings. I reckon Dawn's show will go 8pm on Wednesday, which is possibly a good idea unless it's paired with something like Saturday Night Takeaway. We also have the new Jack Dee sitcom too which is promising.

BIB 1 & 2 - I suspect the extra Corrie will play on Sundays (with the deliberate intention of clashing with the Strictly results show), but Tuesdays at 8pm would be the perfect means of bringing down a BBC show that forever limps on aimlessly: Holby City. ITV has failed to exploit that weakness for way too long, and could easily use Emmerdale, if not Corrie, to diminish it significantly over a long period of time … and then even restore drama to Tuesdays, in the way it used to rule supreme on ITV in the days of Soldier, Soldier and Peak Practice.

BIB3 - ironic that Lygo should be so pro-The Durrells when it was commissioned by former drama head Steve November … whom Lygo dismissed earlier this year - just before The Durrells premiered.

I have no idea whether its an issue or an interest with ITV or not, but I wouldn't entirely rule out the possibility of Champions League Football making a comeback on terrestrial television in a couple of years as there have been a few noises that UEFA aren't entirely happy with BT ratings. BT will probably offer too much to be turned down ofcourse but I wonder whether that element is in the back of anybody's mind at ITV.

As for Coronation Street on Sundays, it will be interesting as not only will it have Strictly in quarter 4 it will have the well embedded Countryfile as well. Its not the easiest slot to re-establish itself in.